


Mystery of Love

by taeroj



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, GangAU, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, dahyun is soft, mina is part of a gang, tzuyu just wants to party
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:22:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22939378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taeroj/pseuds/taeroj
Summary: Moving in the middle of her sophomore year was not in Kim Dahyun’s plans. Falling in love with gang-affiliated Myoui Mina was even more so not in the plans.crossposted on aff
Relationships: Im Nayeon/Minatozaki Sana, Im Nayeon/Yoo Jeongyeon, Kim Dahyun/Myoui Mina
Comments: 5
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

Most things in life start because of a mistake. Teabags, plastic, Myoui Mina; all mistakes. Accidents that either changed the world for better or for worse, it depends on how you look at it. Every human being has made some sort of mistake, some bigger than others. Kim Dahyun could say hers was when she was ten and smashed her mother’s Japanese vase, her knees paid for it dearly when she had to neal on rice for nearly two hours to make up for it. Her father’s mistake was much more serious, he decided to transfer to the other side of Seoul leaving the comfort and familiarity of their area away and replaced it with something much colder and foreign. 

That’s how Dahyun found herself standing awkwardly behind class president Park Jihyo as she tried to show her around the halls of the crumbling building. The girl was talking, discussing each teacher’s unique dynamic that was on her schedule and showing her the niche places that the student body regularly enjoyed. She was a good guide overall, trying to make the best of the decaying building she called a school and present it to Dahyun in a way that was a tiny bit interesting. Sometime during the tour two other girls joined, Nayeon and Tzuyu, adding bits and pieces to the tour. 

“It’s going to be lunch soon, mind as well not even go to class,” Tzuyu advised, taking a peek at her phone.

“You two just wanted to skip your morning classes, didn’t you?” Jihyo questioned, raising an eyebrow at the two guilty-looking girls. Shifting her attention from Jihyo to Dahyun, Nayeon smiled softly and sent her a wink. 

“You could eat lunch with us if you’d like, we have room.” Nayeon offered, “We have room at our table.”

“Thanks.:

“What the fuck is going up there now?” Nayeon groaned, Dahyun followed her line of sight.

The hallway was ghost quiet, except for the loud crunch of something hitting the lockers echoing through the space. A small crowd of onlookers had formed, creating a small semicircle around the scene and blocked their vision. Nayeon released a small huff of air, almost in annoyance as she started to weave her way through the crowd, the others following suit like this was some normal occurrence. Dahyun followed.

After finally squeezing to the front, she finally got a good look at the scene. Her eyes immediately locked onto the girl. The sleeves of her uniform were rolled up to her elbows, paired with a rolled skirt, loosened red tie, and converse shoes that definitely weren’t in code. It wasn’t hard for Dahyun to determine that this was a troublemaker from appearance alone, the fact that she had some boy shoved against the lockers with her fists enthralled in a white-knuckled grip the fabric practically growling in his face. The boy tried to move, but the girl didn’t let him, instead slamming him back into the metal with a force that made Dahyun’s own backache. 

“You sold Sooyoung laced shit.” The girl growled, a strand of her black hair falling over her face, “I just lost one of my best customers, because you decided you wanted to be hard and deal. Not only did you steal my customer, but you also put her in the hospital.”

The boy pushed her back, making her stumble a few feet but she was still on the offensive. “Myoui, let’s talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. You fucked up. Big time.”

He ran a hand through his hair, and that’s when Dahyun got a good glimpse of it. A sharp green tiger tattoo winding across the side of his neck. It warped and twisted every time he moved, yet still keeping it’s intimidating shape. “Really, she came on our territory. I did nothing wrong.”

“We have a deal, Kim. You broke the fucking treaty, the whole fucking treaty.”

“So then just let it go. You don’t really want things to get worse just because of this one small thing, do you? You know what happened last time.”

That seemed to enrage the girl, causing her to violently throw him back with a strength that a girl of her size should not have. He just stared back, a small smirk on his face as he looked behind him, prompting her to follow his line of sight. Her expression hardened at the girl with short black hair and a green tie much like the boy she had pinned to the lockers, “Stay out of this Jeongyeon.”

“As much as I’d love to do that, I can’t. Back away from him Myoui.” Jeongyeon smirked, “Or I’ll really break the treaty.”

The girl just glared at Jeongyeon, her jaw set and posture unwavering. In turn, Jeongyeon stared back, both silently daring the other to make the first move. To give them an excuse to escalate the situation. Another boy stepped away from the crowd, wearing a red time much like Mina, giving her a silent nod. That prompted two more boys with green ties to break off from the crowd. 

The hallway was silent again, as the two women engaged in a silent battle of chicken. Dahyun looked over at Nayeon, seeing her worrying her lip between her teeth watching the situation. Her body was taught like she would jump in at any given moment. Trailing down to her tie, Nayeon was just wearing a regular blue tie like the rest of the student population, why was she so worried about this?

“Wait!” Footsteps echoed down, as two new girls made their way into the scene. A blonde with half up half down hairstyle came sprinting down the hallway, a brunette trailing closely behind her looking a bit out of breath. It could be assumed they ran out of gym class, with their blue shorts and white gym shirt still on. The blonde stepped between the two girls, “What the hell is going on here?”

“This fucker sold laced rope and put Sooyoung in the hospital.” The girl relayed and watched the realization slowly hit the blonde.

“Mina, let’s go. Before you get us all in trouble.” The brunette suggested, tugging on her shirt softly. 

The boy with the red tie locked eyes with Mina, not daring to move an inch until she slowly let go of the boy with the green tie’s shirt and put her hands up in mock defeat at the two. He nodded and disappeared into the crowd as the blonde waved her hands, speaking with tiredness in her voice that led Dahyun to believe this was a common occurrence, “Nothing to see here, move along people!”

The crowd slowly fizzled out, and the green ties also left just leaving the Nayeon, Jihyo, Tzuyu, and Dahyun standing looking at the three girls. Nayeon took a step forward, an apologetic look on her face, “Baby, I was gonna step in-”

The blonde waved her hands, brushing her concern away, “I don’t want you getting involved in things like that. Speaking of which..” The blonde whipped around, landing a light smack on Mina’s shoulder causing the other to grimace and rub her arm. “I’m going to kill you, seriously. Momo and I ran all the way here during the middle of class to save your ass. And the tie? Really? We talked about this Mina, you can’t be doing things like this.”

“Sana-”

“Give me your tie.” The blonde held out her hand expectantly, flexing her fingers when this girl just shook her head, “I’m not letting you wear colors in school. So either give me your tie or put your blue one back on.”

A brief staredown ensued, the tension thick in the air clinging onto their skin. The girl let out an annoyed huff and brushed past Sana, bumping her on the shoulder as she went. 

Then Dahyun caught her eye.

It was strange, kind of like she was sucked into space. The breath was immediately sucked out of the lungs, and she felt gravitated towards her. The sounds of the group in the hall faded away, and she swore the lights dim to just the two of them. It was like it happened in slow motion, the girl walked away, turning her head slowly while making eye contact much like Dahyun. 

“...Dahyun.”

“Huh?” She snapped out of her daze to meet the expectant eyes of the five staring back at her.

“I asked if this happened at your old school often.” Jihyo joked.

Her old school. The place was filled to the brim with rich snobs that would rather throw around Daddy’s money than ever get their hands actually dirty. Never would something like this happen here, so she just shook her head. A faint blush slid across her cheeks when the other girls looked at her with shock. “Wait which sector do you live in?”

“Sector?”

“Do you live to the right or the left of the school?” Tzuyu asked

“Um to the right?”

“You live on east side?” Sana asked, turning to the other girl still in her gym clothes, “Momo, you’ve never seen her either right? I feel like I know her from somewhere.”

“Nope.” Momo shook her head, squinting her eyes trying to scrutinize the details of the other, “Unless, is she from the new family that moved in the hill?”

Sana snapped her fingers turning to Momo, “Yes!

“Okay dorks,” Nayeon cut in, “Why don’t you introduce yourself before you overwhelm the poor girl.”

“Oh yeah, sorry about that. I’m Sana, Nayeon’s girlfriend, and this is my sister Momo.” The blonde flashed a smile, brushing a strand of hair back into its perfect placement. “Nice to meet you.”

“These two run the school, so if anyone has issues with you let them know.” Jihyo informed, a teasing smirk on her face as the sisters started to deny, “Now, we should get to the cafeteria before everyone else. Daniel is waiting for us already.”

The group seemed to agree, the two sisters waved their goodbyes and disappeared assumedly to get changed back into their uniforms. They made their way to the cafeteria, filling in a small circular table near the middle noisily. Jihyo greeted a boy (Dahyun assumed it was daniel, or at least hoped it was by the way the girl kissed him with such passion), and they all got to eating. But Dahyun couldn’t help but gravitate to the girl in the red tie. She sat at a table with people dressed similarly, looking annoyed. There was a group of boys loudly joking around, and a few girls, honestly they looked like a typical friend group. Except, one of the boys had tattoos running down both his arms, a sprawling red dragon on one with some sort of Japanese that Dahyun wasn’t sure of. Upon further inspection, a few of the kids had a similar tattoo however placed and sized differently. The girl with the red tie looked up, briefly making eye contact that sent Dahyun’s gaze scrambling.

“Who’s that?” Dahyun vocalized, motioning over to the table. The friend group around her stopped chattering, looking back at her with something she couldn’t quite decipher. Nayeon finally spoke up.

“That’s Myoui Mina, Momo and Sana’s sister.”

“Dahyun,” Jihyo spoke up, “You’re not from around here, so I am going to tell you how it is. This entire area is run by two gangs. The tigers, the people you see with green ties, and the Dragons, the people you see with red ties. This school is common ground, so they pretend to get along. Don’t get involved with that. It isn’t play, you could get killed.”

The girl nodded, taking in the intensity of her words that Jihyo threw at her. This was different from anything she had ever experienced, it had stakes. She just took another spoonful of the packed rice to her mouth and kept her eyes down, and tried to forget Myoui Mina. 

(Dahyun couldn’t get Mina’s eyes out of her mind).

\- 

The universe decided it would be a lot harder to forget Myoui Mina, not when the girl was sitting next to her in last period English. It was strange, the girl’s quiet reserved nature throughout the class, it contrasted to the hothead she saw in the hallway earlier that very day. She didn’t pay attention to the lesson, but she didn’t bother Dahyun either so it was okay. The lesson was boring anyways, the teacher just droned on and on about Oscar Wilde’s play Salome, Dahyun had read it earlier in the year and having to hear about all the messed up details a second time wasn’t something she looked forward too. The assignment for the day was easy; discuss with your partner a line you agreed within the play and why. 

So Dahyun just sat there nervously picking at her fingers while Mina typed away at her phone, the pale girl too nervous to be able to form the words needed. They were right on the tip of her tongue but they wouldn’t come out.

“The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death.”

“Huh?” Dahyun turned to the girl who had spoke, she sounded soft, accented, and completely bored. 

“You were going to ask me, and that’s the line I agree with.”

“Why?

“Death is simple. You die, that’s it. Game over. Love, love is difficult. There are too many complications.” Mina responded simply, not even bothering to look up from her phone. The girl had such a relaxed posture, slumping in her seat, compared to the rigid perfect posture Dahyun had always kept. 

Before Dahyun had a chance to respond the bell rung, and Mina wasted no time slinging her bag over her shoulder and walking over to a boy on the other side of the room. Dahyun just sat there and watched her leave. 

If Myoui Mina believed love was the greatest mystery, Kim Dahyun would have to disagree. 

Mina seemed to be the greatest mystery.


	2. Chapter 2

There are tons of things people can fear in life. Spiders, clowns, small spaces, death, life, there were endless options. But there was always that one that stood above the rest, one that made your stomach churn, your palms sweat, your knees shake. For most people, it was the aforementioned list, however, Myoui Mina was not most people. Most people did not have a sister like Minatoazki Sana. 

Even now as Momo was blotting away the nasty cut on Mina’s forehead, trapping the blood that threatened to run down in her face in an old T-shirt, Sana was someone to be feared. It wasn’t that Sana was a violent or cruel person that inspired fear from one’s need for safety, it was Sana loved too much. She overwhelmed and blanketed everything around her in a sense of warmth, comfort. Despite how she grew up, and the people around her she still was full of love. That was the scariest part, that she still had a good heart. 

Mina attempted to sit up from the ratty couch she was sat on in their living room, but her efforts were quickly squashed by Momo shoving her shoulders back into the plush fabric as she tried to stick a bandaid on her forehead. 

“You’re going to get yourself killed!” Sana yelled, for what must’ve been the sixth time since Mina had stumbled through their door. “Fighting with them over one customer? Are you serious? What if she pulled a gun? Or really hurt you more than this?”

To be fair, Mina could kind of understand that, but the worry was not needed. Yoo Jeongyeon was always someone who fought fair, she didn’t need to play dirty to win; the girl was strong. Mina never really intended on fighting her after school, but when she walked outside with Jackson and saw the girl standing there with a smirk, her right hand Chaeyoung standing next to her it was easy to figure out what was going to happen next. She was probably still mad about how Mina had roughed up one of her members earlier in the day, but in all honesty, he deserved it. There was an unspoken code of conduct and he violated it the second Mina saw Sooyoung seizing and had to call an ambulance. So when she attacked Mina was ready, hitting back with just as much force. It wasn’t very long, but they definitely did some damage to each other. Mina’s head was pounding, and Jeongyeon’s nose was gushing blood. So they called it even. 

Mina’s number only mistake had been returning home thinking Momo and Sana had cheerleading practice. As soon as she stumbled blindly into the kitchen searching for some sort of painkiller to calm the throbbing in her skull, she was met with her sisters staring back at her. And that’s how she ended up pressed to the couch as Sana nagged her ear off. 

“Mina, are you listening to me?”

“Not really,” Mina said, watching as that look of annoyance spread of Sana’s face slowly. 

The older sister swallowed once, trying to drown all the vile things she wanted to throw at the youngest. She instead just threw her hands in the air, and stomped off, not before leaving Momo with a, “You take care of this, I can’t anymore.”

The two cringed as Sana’s door slammed shut, vibrating off the walls of their apartment. Momo finally finished her first aid, shaking her head lightly as she started packing up her kit. “She’s just worried.”

“I know.”

“How was your day?” Momo asked, certain tiredness lacing her words as she picked up the bloodied t-shirt making sure it didn’t get any stains on the couch.

“It was normal, oh-uh one sec.” Mina reached into her bag that was discarded next to the couch and pulled out a small stack of bills, placing them into Momo’s hand, “For rent.”

“Mina, when we left Dad’s I told you, you didn’t have to worry about things like this.” But Momo’s actions betrayed her words, as she pocketed the money. “I was just going to pick up a few more shifts, and-”

“-and a delivery?” Mina cut in, raising an eyebrow, “I know you still do drug runs sometimes, I also know you’ve talked to Chen about selling your...goods..”

She watched the color drain from Momo’s face, “How did you find out?”

“You forget I’m still very much involved with Dragon operations” Mina shrugged, “I’m okay with the drug runs, but you better not get involved with Chen. You know what happens to girls that get caught up in all that.”

“You can’t tell Sana.”

“I won’t.”

“Just, you can’t be initiated in yet. Not before you can leave here. That’s the agreement. The second you have that damned Dragon tattoo, you’re out.” Momo warned. And Mina knew it was the truth. When the day came that Mina was officially apart of the gang and Mina had a red dragon ingrained into the side of her neck, that would be the day she was dead to Sana. 

If she wasn’t already.

Mina stood up, gripping her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. She had another run tonight, and she couldn’t afford to miss it. The bills were starting to stack up, and if she had to see Momo skip meals or Sana and Nayeon get into another fight because Sana was so stressed, she wasn’t sure what she would do. She slipped on her shoes and opened the door. 

“Be safe,” Momo called out, “I love you.”

I love you too.

Mina simply replied, “See you later alligator.”

…

People were annoying. They were loud and entirely nonempathetic to the fact that Mina’s head still pounded from where it collided with pavement the day before. But Myoui Mina was not a little bitch, so she went to school anyway. A sense of satisfaction washed over her as she saw no Yoo Jeongyeon was sitting on the school steps when she got there, Mina must’ve messed her up good. She could deal with people occasionally throughout the day, but when it came to lunch she wasn’t even going to attempt to try and brave it out. 

Instead, she settled on the music practice rooms a tried and true method of silence, maybe she could sleep and get her headache to disappear who knew. She pushed open the door, nearly jumping back when she saw someone sitting there staring back at her, “Oh sorry, I-I can go.”

“It’s okay.” The girl smiled, taking an earbud out of her ear, “I didn’t know this was your spot”

Mina let out a chuckled, taking a seat at one of the chairs laid around the room. It wasn’t big, but it had a window that overlooked the outside portion of the cafeteria and could be opened on days the dusty air got too much. “This really isn’t, I have a headache and I need somewhere quiet.”

“Same.” The girl responded, adjusting her tie so it lied perfectly in line with her shirt, “I needed somewhere quiet too.”

“You sit next to me in English right? What was your name again?”

“Dahyun.”

“I’m Mina.” Mina introduced, leaning back into her chair and closed her eyes, “Did you eat yet?”

“No.” Dahyun shyly admitted, “I forgot my lunch.”

“When’s your next class?”

“English, so in an hour?” 

Mina sat up suddenly, “Let’s go grab something to eat then, I know a little store ten minutes away.”

The girl looked a little shocked squinting slightly as the invitation that just flowed from Mina’s mouth, “What?”

“I’m bored, and now my mind is made up.” Mina shrugged, tossing her backpack on, “Are you coming or not?”

Ten minutes later Dahyun and Mina found themselves walking into a small convenience store. It was small but had that familiar homey feeling attached to it. Memories of years of eating out in there, of coming in to just hang out. Mina guided the pair to the ramen section, picking up two of her favorite’s and headed to the front. Dahyun’s input was not needed. 

She placed them on the counter, and Dahyun quickly was digging around her bag in the hope of finding some money to cover her portion. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Mina pushed Dahyun aside and put her own money in the man’s hand. He took it and quickly gave her, her change. She pocketed and looked up at him and smiled, “How’s your wife doing Mr.Tanaka?” 

The old man behind the counter smiled, it made Mina feel soft and warm. The dragon that wrapped around his forearm was a complete opposite of the gentle nature of the man, it often made Mina wonder how he even got involved with things like that. Sure he retired from the gang years ago, but she could never picture the man involved in things like what she heard about him. He almost felt like a father, and maybe Mina wished he was. The old man smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling, “She’s doing good, she enjoyed your visit the other day. It made her smile for the rest of the week.”

“Tell her I’ll visit her next time I get the chance, I have someone else in there I need to visit too now.”

“Will do Minari.” He handed their items over to them, and Mina saw him do it. The very action he did every time she went in there, scowered all of her exposed skin for a hint of the red ink. She saw the tiny breath he released when he saw none. She didn’t say anything. 

Instead, she lead her and Dahyun over to the little kettle stationed next register and poured the appropriate amount of water into the bowls and then sat them outside. She could feel Dahyun’s eyes on her as she finally took a bite of her ramen, “You know, you aren’t very slick. I saw you staring yesterday too.”

Mina didn’t have to look to see the red embarrassment tinge Dahyun’s cheeks. She smirked and fed herself another spoonful. Dahyun went quiet for a few minutes, “You’re kind of annoying.”

That took Mina off guard, “Huh?”

“You heard me.”

Mina smiled, “You got some balls, I like that.”

“This flavor is kind of good.” Dahyun voiced.

“Duh, I picked it out.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence, just eating and enjoying the sounds of cars passing by. Mina looked over and observed the girl’s perfect uniform, the long straightened hair with a simple hairband in it. She was kind of cute. And also seemed like a snobby asshole. But maybe she was much more like Mina than she initially thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Dahyun had very little complaints about her new friends. 

Jihyo, Tzuyu, and Nayeon were pretty much the perfect friends right from the starting gates. They were welcoming, patient, and considerate. All things Dahyun was sure none of the people at her old school ever put even an inkling of emphasis on. They proved themselves to be good people throughout her first week time and time again, like the time Tzuyu walked her to class for three days in a row because Dahyun just kept getting lost, or how Jihyo made sure everyone who was talking to her was nice with just a heated glare, or how Nayeon always made sure to include Dahyun in their conversations. They were very nice, except for their one fault. 

They were unbearably loud. 

Not so much Tzuyu, but the other two, good lord. Apparently, they never heard of the concept of indoor voices, or if they did they just ignored it completely. It wasn’t that Dahyun was annoyed, but she never really had to deal with anyone like this before in her life, her family was quiet, almost concerningly so. They didn’t really ever talk to each other, her parents working long shifts at the hospital and when they came home they never really had too much to say. 

So when Nayeon cackled and smacked her arm so hard she really felt like it was going to bruise, or Jihyo started to talk in that loud voice of hers, it could become a lot very quickly. The only time they were ever quiet was when their tongue was shoved down their respective partner’s throat. Dahyun tried to deal with it, she really did. It was how they are, how they have always been even before Dahyun arrived. Sometimes it just got to be too much. 

Dahyun closed the door to the bathroom stall with a relieved sigh, relishing in the quiet that overtook the small room. Jihyo and Nayeon had gotten into a particularly heated argument over Tzuyu’s dogs and if they were cute or not. Tzuyu had even jumped in on this conversation. It would’ve been okay if Dahyun were not trying to read her book for English class. But no, they got louder, and Dahyun couldn’t focus. So with a weak excuse to use the bathroom, she all but darted in for just a few moments of quiet. 

The silence didn’t last long before the door swung open again and footsteps entered, quietly going to the sink. She heard the tap run and someone scoop water and it splash back down. It was calm, even soothing. Then the door swung open again, more intensely than the first time footsteps coming to a grinding halt. 

A sigh, and a voice that was unmistakably Mina’s, “What Yoo?”

“You really stole Yerim?” The voice was the same as the one she heard on the first day, the same intensity in her voice, “Is this because of Sooyoung because so help me-”

“She came to Jackson, he gave her a better deal. I’m just a runner. You’re bitching at the wrong person.” Mina’s tired voice sounded out, the water stopped running and Dahyun could hear the paper towel dispenser start to run. The girl ripped off a piece and presumedly dried her hands, “If you want a repeat we can go at it again, but let’s wait until your nose is fully healed. Yeah?”

“I’m being initiated soon,” Jeongyeon stated.

“And I care, why?”

“You should watch your back when that happens,” Jeongyeon said, and there was a brief moment of silence, before Mina’s laughter rung out.

“I don’t like you, but I don’t fear you. You’re a bit too soft to do anything too serious. Are you done know Jeongie? I have class to get to.” With that said the door opened and closed once again, leaving only Jeongyeon and Dahyun in the bathroom. Dahyun carefully cracked open the door just in time to see Jeongyeon let out a puff of annoyance and walk out of the bathroom as well. 

That was just weird. 

…

Next time Dahyun saw Mina was after lunch in class. The girl strode in ten minutes late, lazily plopping into her seat next to Dahyun. 

“You’re late.” 

“I know,” Mina took out her notebook and laid it on her desk, “Doesn’t matter anyway, Ms.Bae isn’t going to say anything.”

“How can you be so sure of that?”

“Cause I know her secret.” Mina leaned in, cupping her hand around her mouth and whispered, “She doesn’t want everyone knowing that even though she’s married, Coach Kang is blowing her back out every night while her poor husband works at his nine to five.”

“How did you even find that out?” There wasn’t even doubt in Dahyun that it wasn’t true, Mina truly had no reason to lie. 

“Wrong place, wrong time.”

“We are passing in the homework by the end of class, you have yours right?” 

“We had homework?”

Earning an eye-roll from the pale girl, she nodded. “Well can I copy then?”

It wasn’t so much a question, as Mina was already turning the page in question towards her so she had a good look. It was the small things that Mina did that made her blood boil in annoyance. 

“Maybe if you actually did your work, you’d have the answers.” Dahyun clipped back, taking the sheet and sliding it under her binder almost dramatically. That earned only an eye roll from Mina as she finally took out a pencil from her own bag and placed it on the paper. 

Dahyun should have exected it, she really should have. In only one week of knowing Mina, she knew the girl never left issues alone, especially if it angered her. But it still took her off guard when Mina leaned in next to her ear, her breath just tickling her lobe, and whispered, “Maybe if you unbuttoned your shirt a few, I would have some motivation.”

It didn’t take a genius to know that Dahyun was now a shade of bright red. She pushed Mina away, who looked smug with herself as she sat back up and moved a bit away. There was nothing Dahyun craved more than just smacking that pleased look off of her face, instead, she just turned back to her work as Mina snickered. 

…

“She said what?” Nayeon asked when Dahyun relayed the events from English class. For once her friend group was quiet, not one of them muttering a single word. Apparently Fridays were the days the group would go out and do something together, so naturally, she accepted the offer after school. She was sat in between Jihyo and Tzuyu as Sana and Nayeon sat on the other side of the small booth in a diner not far from the convenience store Mina had shown her. Various milkshakes and drinks were already on the table, except for Sana who claimed she wasn’t hungry. When Sana asked her about English with Mina (more like if Mina was actually going to class), the floodgates had opened about Dahyun’s annoyance at the girl. 

When her rant finished the table was silent, staring at her as she had just said the most amount of words they had ever heard from her. Sana had a slight smirk on her face, just like Jihyo while the other three seemed like they were still trying to process the word vomit that had just erupted from her. 

“Yeah, I mean who the hell does she think she is? She switches from hot to cold in three seconds.” Dahyun ranted, before showing off a rather impressive impression of the Japanese girl, “Did you eat Dahyun? Are you okay Dahyun? Show me your tits Dahyun.”

Jihyo choked down a laugh before raising an eyebrow, “Maybe she likes you?”

“I hope not.”

“Wait don’t you like her?” Tzuyu asked, immediately being pinched on the arm by Nayeon who gave her a look. Almost like they knew something Dahyun wasn’t aware of.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Nayeon shrugged, taking a sip of her drink, “We just think it’s kind of interesting that you two are always at each other’s throats. Or maybe you want to be down them instead?”

“No!”

“C’mon, do you really dislike her? You two seemed to be getting along just fine the other day.” Sana asked.

“I don’t know-”

“Alright, so we have two cheeseburgers, a salad, and one chicken sandwich.” A voice cut in as food started to be placed on the table, they looked up and couldn’t help but be surprised when Momo, dressed in a ridiculously tight old school uniform, was the one placing food on the table.

Dahyun saw something flash across Sana’s face at the sight, but it was gone with an almost rehearsed looking clench of the jaw. 

“I didn’t know you were working here?” The sister stated, in a tone a bit to confrontational to be a question. 

“Oh yeah,” Momo let out an awkward laugh, placing the last plate on the table, “I picked up a second job. I’m graduating soon and I need to start saving for college.”

The table seemed to but that, the joking atmosphere coming back. Everyone knew Nayeon meant no harm, but she should’ve just kept her mouth shut, “Just ask Mina to spot you, that girl probably deals enough drugs to put us all through college.”

Momo went quiet. Dahyun saw how her fingers clenched the round tray in her hands so tightly, and how she took a deep controlled breath, “I know you’re Sana’s girlfriend so I’ll let that go this once, but if you ever try to degrade my family like that again, well what you think of Mina is going to be nothing to what you think of me.”

Then she walked away. 

The table had an awkward air around it for the rest of the night. Momo only came back once to put a plate of food in front of Sana, with a glare to eat it all. Needless to say, friend’s night could have had a better ending.


	4. Chapter 4

Friday nights were usually busy for Mina, but for once she had nothing to do but lay on the couch and illegally stream Marvel movies on her phone. She was spread out, limbs draped haphazardly over the fabric as she lazily held her phone up in front of her face attempting to get fully invested into the movie, a bag of chips rested against her side as she occasionally shoved some into her mouth. It worked for about an hour before the hurricane known as Sana arrived home. She threw her purse down, obviously ticked off with something, and Mina could not figure out what she did wrong. 

But Sana didn’t come over to confront her, instead, she took a seat at their small counter separating the kitchen from the living room and sat, almost like a lion stalking her prey. Mina just turned back to her movie, and the two stayed like that for a few hours. But when the door opened again, signaling the last person of the trio had arrived home, it was like a bomb went off. 

“So you weren’t going to tell me you got another job, at THAT place of all places.” Sana questioned, agitation apparent in her tone, “If we are really in that much trouble, you should’ve told me. I could’ve picked up more shifts, or Mina can get a real job to help out.”

“Sana, I just got home. I really don’t want to talk about this.” Momo tiredly almost pleaded, stumbling into the living room and plopped down on the couch next to Mina. Mina had a second to take in Momo’s appearance, and could kind of understand. The skirt of her uniform was dangerously low, and the piece as a whole was so tight it left very little to the imagination. Momo must’ve got a job in that diner downtown, notorious for its poor treatment of its employees. 

“I don’t care. You’re keeping things from us. Again!” Sana pressed, “I want to help, I don’t get why you think you need to do all of this on your own. How bad is it, Momo?”

“It’s not that bad.”

“How bad is our money situation, Momo,” Sana asked again, this time firmer. 

Momo seemed to deflate a little, “It’s pretty bad.”

The three sisters went quiet at that. Sana took a seat on the other couch, messaging her temples trying to ward off the headache that was inevitably coming. Finally, she spoke up, “I’ll increase my hours. And I’m sorry about Nayeon, I talked to her about it after dinner. She felt bad too.”

“I know, she’s a nice kid. But she needs to learn when to keep her mouth shut.” Momo agreed, her eyes drooping closed as exhaustion washed over her. “Sana, I really don’t want you or Mina worrying about this stuff. Just finish school, I’m in my last year already so it doesn’t matter anymore.”

Sana was quiet, and Mina couldn’t get a gauge on what exactly she was thinking. A part of her longed for a day where Sana and her could get along, but Mina understood if she wanted to continue how she was living Sana wanted nothing to do with her. 

…

This was a stupid idea, but hey, that’s what Myoui Mina was known for. 

She and Jackson were stuffed into a corner booth, hoodies up sharing an order of chicken fingers and fries. Mina had guessed correctly, seeing as Momo was taking orders a few yards away from the duo. Momo probably noticed her, she wasn’t exactly being incredibly stealthy, the oldest just chose not to say anything. It wasn’t the first time Mina had gone all attack dog for her older sibling. They had a delivery tonight anyways, a house party up on the hill, and it was going to pay big. Big enough that she could take care of half of the rent for this month maybe even more. She should’ve been happy about it, but a group of boys just had to ruin her good mood. 

They weren’t from around here, Mina knew that for sure. One, Mina had never seen them before, and two, if they were they would know who Momo was and exactly why they shouldn’t fuck with her. Rookie mistake. But Mina watched as one decided to touch her arm for just a bit too long and the way Momo uncomfortably shuffled away from them was enough to set Mina off. She was already walking to their booth before Jackson had a chance to talk her out of it, the boy just grabbing their backpack full of the goods they were to deliver and trailed quickly behind her.

She slammed her hands down on the table, shocking the boys. “Everything alright over here?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” One of the boys spoke up, giving her a questioning look. 

“I was just wondering why you’re harassing your poor waitress.”

“Harassing? We are just being friendly.”

“Is that so?” Mina spared a glance over at Jackson, who rolled up his sleeves and cracked his knuckles, “You guys aren’t from around here, are you?”

“What does that have to do with anything-”

One of the boys seemed to catch the tattoo trailing up Jackson’s arm, and subtly elbowed his friend and motioned to it. It was a bit amusing the way the color drained out of all their faces when they realized who exactly they were. Mina smirked, “Now, You guys are going to enjoy your dinner and leave your waitress alone. And you’re going to give your waitress a huge tip. And I’ll ask her, and if she says you didn’t, my friend over here will take care of you.”

Needless to say, Momo got the biggest tip of her life that night. But Mina wanted her to quit as well.

…

The party was already well underway by the time Jackson and Mina had arrived. He took the backpack and went off to complete the delivery promising to give her the payment tomorrow because he really didn’t her walking around with a stack of cash. She trusted him, so she let him go, instead opting to look around. The houses on the hill were always really nice, but this one was just slightly odd, it was just so bare. Music was blasting somewhere in the living room, filling up the airspace as she tried to weave through drunken bodies. There were a lot of dragon members here, all clad with their distinctive tattoo, it wasn’t really a bad thing but if anything went wrong it could get ugly fast. 

“Mina?” Mina turned around to see very intoxicated Dahyun approaching her, a wide smile on her face. The girl was leaning up against the wall, using it for balance as she stumbled in Mina’s direction. She met the girl halfway, letting her use her arms for support, “What’re you doin here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” Mina looked around, “Did you come with your friends?”

“I don’t know where Tzuyu went,” Dahyun pouted.

“Let me take you home then, it’s not safe for you to be here alone.”

“I AM home,” Dahyun exclaimed, giggling amongst herself. Oh, this was Dahyun’s house. But why were there so many people here? And how did she even throw a party in the first place? Mina had no idea, and from the way, Dahyun was starting to lean on her she realized that she was not going to be getting those answers anytime soon. “I’m sleepy.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

.

It took ten minutes to drag Dahyun up the stairs into her room, which thankfully was empty, before Mina all but shoved the girl in and closed the door behind her, not forgetting to lock it. She helped Dahyun to the bed, before just pushing her and letting the girl fall with a small whine. “Sleep.”

“That is not how you put someone to bed,” Dahyun whined, rolling over. 

“That’s my way, now go to sleep.”

“You know I think about you a lot. Like what you said in class, it keeps me up at night.” Dahyun admitted, her speech still slightly slurred. 

“Huh?”

“You’re annoying, but you’re also confusing. Sana said you liked me, is that true?” Dahyun reached up and grabbed onto Mina’s arm pulling the girl in as she sat up, “I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I want to know you.”

“You’re drunk.” 

“So?”

“So, get sober, then we can do this.” And with that, Mina pushed her back down flat on the bed and pulled the covers over her. It didn’t take long for snores to fill the small room, and Mina let out a sigh of relief. She grabbed one of the spare pillows from off the bed and laid it on the floor, taking her jacket off and draped it over herself like a blanket. The hardwood was probably going to kill her back in the morning, but it could be worse. She’d rather stay as Dahyun slept than risk another drunk idiot stumbling in here and thinking they could get lucky with passed out Dahyun. 

She needed a job. A real one. One where Sana would actually accept the money being brought forth and was reliable. Dealing was good money, but sometimes she could go weeks even a few months without any customers or runs and it was hard. She did see a help wanted sign outside the small convenience store that Mr.Tamaka ran, maybe she could apply? She’d check in the morning. 

Trying to adjust her position and get comfortable on the floor wasn’t working, but she looked over and saw Dahyun’s sleeping face. Her mouth was parted slightly, she looked so relaxed. Mina chuckled, she was kind of cute


	5. Chapter 5

“Wake up.” 

Dahyun poked Mina once again, only getting a small whine in return from the girl as she tried to turn away from her. Dahyun rolled her eyes and tried once again. This time finally getting a loud huff from the girl, one eye shooting open to glare up at her. Dahyun flashed her a wide smile, Mina scowled. “You’re annoying.”

“You’re the one sleeping on my floor.” Dahyun pointed out, making Mina sigh again as she got up. 

“I wouldn’t be sleeping on your floor if you knew how to handle your liquor.” She grumbled, stretching out her sore and stiff back. She stood up and shrugged on her jacket, before looking back over at Dahyun, “How are you feeling?”

“My head hurts.”

“I’m sure it does. I’ll make you some hangover soup, I’m hungry.” Without warning or permission, Mina got up and left the room, Dahyun traveling behind her down the stairs. 

They both stopped when they saw the mess.

Cups were strewn across the floor, the counters, couches, some full, some empty. There was spilled liquid on the floor, puddled up. (Dahyun prayed to god that it was alcohol and not anything else.) The coffee table was split clean in half, food in bowls still on it spilled and sprayed out across the floor. The kitchen was not much better, bottles of booze lazing on the counter, a seemingly still intact Pizza sat next to it. And no stragglers seemed to have passed out and spent the night.

“Holy shit.” Dahyun gasped, “How am I going to clean this up?”

Her head pounded, a combination of the mess and her hangover. Her parents were going to kill her. This was how Kim Dahyun ended.

“Catch.” The container of Clorox wipes cut through the air, only stopping as Dahyun scrambled to catch it, jumping suddenly. She looked over to see Mina under her sink, emerging a few seconds later with a trash bag. “I’ll pick up the drinks, you start with the spills.”

Dahyun found herself nodding, grabbing a spare rag to mop up the puddles littering the area. The two worked in quiet, but Dahyun couldn’t help stealing occasional glances over at Mina. Tracing over her side profile with her eyes, lingering on bags under her eyes, her tight red shirt under her slightly oversized black hoodie. Myoui Mina was a sight for sore eyes. She was still incredibly annoying, but she was pretty. 

“You don’t seem like one to party.” Mina broke the silence, bending down to pick up remnants of what Dahyun though might have been a sandwich? She had no clue. 

“I’m not,” Dahyun answered, starting to pick up the cups strewn across her house. If there is one thing that this whole fiasco has taught her is that she needs to be much more careful with her wording. She had suggested to Tzuyu that they had a small get together, a party in her exact words. What she failed to realize is that ‘party’ had a whole different connotation with her new friends. 

It started small, just Nayeon arriving with a few extra people. Then Jihyo with her boyfriend, and his friends (all ten of them). Finally, Tzuyu, who apparently brought the whole fucking neighborhood, and everything descended into chaos. Dahyun vaguely remembered Nayeon pushing a few red cups into her hands that tasted horrible, and the rest of the night was a blur. All she remembered was yelling in the living room, followed by a loud crunch. That explained the broken coffee table. And Nayeon greeting Sana, the latter not looking very pleased. 

“I didn’t do or say anything embarrassing last night, right?” 

“Other than being drunk? No.” Mina hummed, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly. 

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not,” Mina shot back, “Don’t worry about it. You do need to be more careful about who you let in this place though.’

“What? Why?”

“People around here, they won’t hesitate to rob you blind. Especially since you live on ‘The Hill’, everyone wants to live here, they just can’t. So they’ll take what they can instead.” Mina stretched her thumb and index finger out in a gun-like shape and pointed it at Dahyun, “And they’ll stop at nothing to get what they want.”

Bang

Mina smirked and put her hand back down, “No Dragons will mess with you. I can make sure of that. But don’t be inviting gang members over again, I’d hate for something to happen to you.”

“Wow, Mina, are you getting soft on me?”

“You wish. I’d have no one to annoy if you weren’t around.” Mina put down her now full trash bag and walked over to a small family portrait, picking it up and held it close to her face. Dahyun knew which one that was, the one of all four of them at Disneyworld. Dahyun was dressed in shorts and a tank top much like her brother who stood next to her, both flashing incredibly cheesy smiles at the camera. Her mother stood behind them, while her father stood next to her both looking happy as well. 

That was the only picture up in the whole house. That was the last picture they had of Myungsoo before he passed. 

“These you’re folks?” Mina asked, holding it up, “What do they do?”

“They’re cardiothoracic surgeons.”

“Huh?”

“They operate on people’s hearts.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” Mina squinted at the photo a bit closer, “You have a brother?”

“Had. A brother.” Dahyun answered. It was strange, it had almost been a year since he was gone, but Dahyun still felt the pain the same way. It bubbled up in her chest to her throat, choking her violently. This deep pain that she just couldn’t explain. She caught Mina’s expression, sympathetic. She needed to change the subject, fast. “What do your parents do?”

“I live with my sisters.”

“Okay…” Dahyun frowned a bit at that, “But how about your mom and dad-”

“I live with my sisters.” Mina’s tone was a bit more final this time, a silent warning not to push the subject any further. 

“I do have a question about your sisters,”

“Shoot.”

“Why do you all have different last names?”

“We all have different moms. Sana’s mom is living with our dad, so she got to keep his last name. Momo and I kept our mom’s. That’s fine by me.” Mina answered distractedly, pulling out her cellphone. She frowned at whatever was on the screen and turned to Dahyun, “How about we get some Ramen?”

…

Mr.Tamaka’s store had not changed at all since the last time Dahyun had been there, it was kind of nice. Granted it had only been a week since she last step foot between the rows, but it was still interesting how nothing seemed to stray. 

Mina, however, changed immediately. Her relaxed demeanor from this morning gone, as soon as she stepped foot into the store. “Pick us out some ramen.”

With that, she disappeared into the back of the store, so Dahyun did as she was told. She picked out some ramen, just the ramen positioned so she could see what Mina was up to. She wasn’t nosy (she definitely was). Mina was talking to some tall guy, and grabbed something out of his hand and stuffed it into her pocket. The boy walked out and Mina followed soon after, trailing back up to Dahyun, “All set?”

“Yeah.” Dahyun held up the two packages, shaking them a little before making her way to the counter. Mr.Tamaka was waiting and immediately scanned them in. 

“I noticed you had a help wanted poster outside your window,” Mina stated, looking disinterested. 

“I do. Now that my wife is in the hospital, I need a bit of help around here.” He stated, the corners of his eyes wrinkling up as he smiled, “You can start Wednesday.”

“Huh?

He said something in a language Dahyun didn’t understand, but Mina nodded and answered back. He gave them back their ramen, and they quickly made their way out of the store. They took a seat on the curb and they waited, watching cars go by for their ramen to cook.

“Tzuyu texted me, said she was sorry for what happened to the coffee table,” Dahyun spoke up, looking up from her phone at Mina who raised an eyebrow.

“What did she do?”

“No idea, but I guess that is her way of saying sorry for the party.”

“Yeah. Tzuyu usually doesn’t say what she means.” Mina hummed, taking her ramen and putting it into her lap, “She’s guarded.”

“Why?”

“Everyone is. That’s how you survive.”

“I didn’t know you spoke Japanese.”

“My last name is Myoui.”

“I knew that, but I didn’t want to just assume.” Dahyun laughed.

“What time will your parents be back?”

“Two days, so the house will be clean by then.”

“Mmm,” Mina half-heartedly acknowledged, her focus on two figures on the other side of the street. One was Momo, she looked pissed off, shaking a fist at a taller man who just stood there looking smug. He couldn’t be past his late twenties. He was wearing a red sweatshirt and had a dragon twirling up the side of his head. “Call me if you need help picking up anything else. Nayeon has my number.”

With that, she set down her ramen and dashed across the street, inserting herself into the conversation. The walls rising as she sterned her facial expression and crossed her arms as she talked. Dahyun just ate her ramen and watched, there wasn’t much else she could do.


	6. Chapter 6

Mina set down two bouquets of purple carnations on the counter in front of the check out lady, playing with the petals as she rung them up. She paid and grabbed both of them in one hand, exiting the small gift shop and made her way into the hospital. She walked past rushing nurses in pale purple scrubs and the occasional doctor, making her way into the lonely room at the end of the hallway. Mrs.Tanaka was laid in bed wires and tubes hooked up to her, making her already petit frame seem to disappear into the white sheets of the bed, “Minari!”

“Hello, Mrs.Tanaka.” Mina greeted, “How are you feeling today?”

“I can’t wait to get out of this bed and out there again.”

A lump formed in Mina’s throat. The woman probably would never be out of that bed, her stroke had left half of her body paralyzed. She just hummed a gentle agreement as the old woman reached out to grab Mina’s arm with her good hand. “Is everything okay?”

“I fought with Momo last night. She was still mad at me this morning.” Mina admitted, not even attempting to hide the truth from the woman. “She’s getting involved in things she should be. She is just so frustrating and won’t admit that she needs help when things start to go wrong.”

Her and Dahyun’s peaceful afternoon a few days prior had been cut short by Momo and Chen arguing. Mina broke it up, sweet-talking their way out of trouble like usual, but it still rubbed her the wrong way. She had no idea what they were arguing about in the first place, but if it was Chen it couldn’t have been good. 

“Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” Mrs.Tanaka spoke, a knowing smile on her face, “You two are so similar it’s scary. I remember you two used to come to our store when you were young and would play cashier and always fight because you wanted to do the same thing. Great minds think alike.”

“I don’t get what you mean.”

“Have you considered that maybe she is frustrated about the same things with you?”

Mina paused, then shook it off. Momo didn’t need to worry about things in Mina’s life. Less she knew the better. “Let’s change the subject.”

The old woman’s lips curled up into a smirk, a fox-like expression spreading across her features, “So are you seeing any boys?”

“No.”

“...girls?”

“What?”

“Mina, honey, no one that used to kiss pretty girls in magazines when they were little ever turned out to be straight.” She laughed, “Sana did the same thing, and look at her now. She has a pretty little girlfriend and is going to do well for herself.”

“Cause she is not involved in gangs and stuff.” 

“No, because she’s smart. So are you.”

“I’m really not.”

Mrs.Tanaka shook her head, “You’re starting at the store right? I bet you’ll learn everything in two days.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m smart.”

“It means you adapt well, you’re mind works fast. It’s had to this entire time.” The old woman let out a yawn, picking up the purple carnations Mina had offered her, “I think it’s time for me to head to bed. Don’t you think?”

“I’ll visit you soon.” Mina stood up from her seat and offered the woman one last look before she snuck out into the hall. She had one more bouquet left, and more stop to make. She traveled down the hall until she reached the closed door that she had been dreading this entire time. 

She let herself in, immediately noticing Coach Kang’s sleeping figure on a couch next to Sooyoung on the bed. She couldn’t look at Sooyoung for more than a few seconds, her stomach-churning at the sight of someone her age laid out like that. 

She set the flowers on Sooyoung’s bedside, letting her fingers dance over the petals once last time. 

“Mina?” She turned around to see Coach Kang’s eyes still hazy with sleep boring back at her, “What are you doing here?”

“I got lost.”

“Are you and Sooyoung friends?” There was a hopeful tone in her voice, Mina glanced back at the lonely bouquet she placed next to Sooyoung. She probably had no friends left, junkies never did. 

“I just owed her an apology.”

“For what?”

What did Mina want to apologize for? Feeding into her addiction? She watched Sooyoung slowly become a shell of herself, without saying anything or attempting to stop her in anyways. Maybe she was sorry about that. Maybe for her greed, keeping the prices high even when she got desperate, desperate enough to steal her mother’s jewelry and sell it in exchange for her fix. Maybe it was that she just happened to take a bad batch that wasn’t even Mina’s, to begin with. Sorry for her misfortune. 

She just shrugged, “Just because.”

The gym teacher let out a shaky breath, relaxing back into her chair, “Have you eaten yet today?”

“No, I was going to go home after this and make something for myself.” 

The older woman nodded, she just seemed exhausted. Sana had mentioned how cheer practice was canceled this past week, the state of her daughter probably was weighing on her mind. She couldn’t imagine having a family member in this state. The door opened, and Teacher Bae walked in, “Hey Hyun.”

“Anything new?”

“No. She’s still the same.” 

It was interesting, how Sooyoung could fuck up so bad and still have two women love her unconditionally. Technically, she was only Coach Kang’s kid. And technically, the two teachers were in a love affair that was probably starting to get out of hand. But they loved her, even after she made a mistake. Would anyone still love Mina if she made a mistake- (she stuffed that thought somewhere dark and deep never to be thought of again.)

Her phone rang, and she excused herself into the hallway. 

“Mina?” Coach Kang called out.

“Yeah?”

“If you ever need a couch to sleep on, tell me.”

She knew. Mina could see it in her eyes, she knew what Mina was. She knew what Mina was doing. Why? Why was Teacher Bae looking at her the same way? She didn’t like Coach Kang, she left the room in a hurry.

…

“Boo.”

Dahyun jumped, up and whipped around in her seat, shooting Mina an annoyed glare as the girl took a seat next to her outside the school. The day had just ended and most students were long gone by now, only a few straggling around. Mina smirked and took a seat next to her on the long stone wall lining the outside of the school. “Who are you waiting for?”

“My mom said she was going to pick me up.” Dahyun frowned, "You waiting for your ride."

"Momo said she wouldn't give me a ride home. But I kinda doubt she'd actually make me walk. It looks like it is about to rain."

"I thought you and Momo were close."

"We're in a fight." 

"oh."

"Did you get your house cleaned up yet?"

"Yeah, I finished up last night." Dahyun smiled, glancing down at her phone. "She's late."

"Maybe she's fixing someone's heart?"

"She should fix her own first."

Mina shrugged, looking out into the parking lot. There were only a few cars left, including Jeongyeon's grey Honda Civic that sat near the left corner almost hidden completely out of sight. But there was a group of about five hanging out there, with Jeongyeon sitting on the hood of the car laughing along to something. "She's going to be initiated soon."

"Huh?"

"Jeongyeon, she's going to become a gang member soon." Mina repeated, worrying her lip between her teeth, "Then I really can't take it easy on her. She'd could have a hit on her if she's dumb and messes with the wrong people."

"Hit?"

"It's a kill on sight order." Mina answered, "All members have to follow it."

"You're not a member though."

"Not yet. Sana would have a personal hit on me when I do become one." Mina shrugged, head turning at the tell tale sounds of Dana's giggles, "Speak of the devil."

Both girls turned to see Momo and Sana walk out of the school, Nayeon holding Sana's hand. They stopped when they saw Mina, and Momo let out a sigh, "I already told you no."

"It's about to rain!"

"Better start walking then." And with that Momo walked off, Sana and Nayeon hesitantly following behind her. She could see Sana try and talk Momo out of it in the distance, but Momo seemed stubborn. 

Maybe she really did piss Momo off this time. Chen was just dangerous, and Momo was too vulnerable to be getting involved with his operations. They needed money, but they needed Momo more. 

Mina let her line of sight tear away from the trio as they got into Momo's car. Dahyun gave her a sympathetic look, "She'll get over it."

"I know. Watch I'll get home and she'll feel so bad about it that she's just going to pretend this all never happened." Mina shrugged, "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Nothing. Why?"

"We're going to go do something. I get out of work at five, so be ready. I'll pick you up."

"This doesn't sound like a good idea."

"Think of it as English class bonding, but without the rest of the class." Mina smirked, "I promise you'll have a good time."

"Don't smirk, you make it weird."

"You just have a dirty mind. Is that your car?"

She pointed at a pristine white SUV parked outside of the school, a woman in a white coat waving at them. Dahyun nodded, and got up. 

"Remember five, or if you really want to see me visit me at Mr.Tanaka's"


	7. Chapter 7

This was stupid. 

Dahyun cast another glance at the clock, letting out an annoyed huff as the clock teasingly glared back at her, 4:35 flashing back at her in bright red block letters. She swore the numbers hadn’t changed in a good ten minutes, or maybe it just seemed to take that long as she waited for it to be five so she could finally go see Mina- Wait- No she didn’t. She was being forced, yes. (She was in no way shape or form being forced.)

Well, Mina did say that she could go earlier if she wanted and visit her at Mr.Tanaka’s store. Maybe that did sound like a kind of a good idea, fine. She’d go. She was already all dressed anyways, wearing a white turtleneck under a slightly oversized blue cashmere sweater, both of which were tucked into her grey skirt. Paired with a white headband and her small Chanel pendant necklace and matching penny loafers accompanied by her ankle-length white socks. Casual, yet slightly dressed up. She had absolutely no clue what Mina had planned, maybe dinner? Or something of that sort? Who knew, either way, she needed to be dressed for the occasion. She grabbed her oversized grey jacket and threw it on, tossed her small quilted Chanel bag.

She walked out of her room, closing her door. And just like every other day, she stopped at the closed door across the hall from her staring at the white door. It was empty, she knew that. But why would her parents keep an empty room for him? He was gone. She once had brought it up to her mother, and never again after the woman had gone cold and callous. It wasn’t like her brother would ever need it, it was just a waste of space. Yet, Dahyun found it calling to her still, her hand always itching to open it up and call out for him. A part of her still wanted to believe he would be sat in his bean bag chair, chunky gaming headphones on laughing with his friends. She’d open the door, and he would turn to her sliding them off his head to give her his full attention, they would talk and tease each other before Dahyun left and he would turn back to his game. Her fingers gripped the doorknob, twitching and begging her to turn it. She let go.

(After what she saw last time she couldn’t bring herself to open the door again.)

Her house was empty, there was no one to say goodbye to anyways. She doubted that her parents would even return tonight. They left money on the counter, they must’ve fought last night after she went to bed. Probably over the same things they always did. Maybe divorce would just be better at this point. Maybe, maybe not. Dahyun didn’t even care at this point. 

(She did, she cared a lot.)

She left her house, walking down the street, following the one’s Mina had told her was safe. She could’ve been lying, but Dahyun doubted it when she made it out in front of Mr.Tamaka’s shop safely. She peered in, and there Mina was just as promised. She was wearing a blue mesh vest that seemed to be a bit too big, slipping off her shoulder as she lifted a box presumedly filled with whatever she was putting out on the shelves. Mr.Tamaka was sat behind the counter, a newspaper in hand as he watched her, smiling affectionately at Mina. She could tell why Mina seemed to like him so much, he radiated gentle energy, she could feel the warmth coming off of him from here. It contrasted with the stoic dragon scaling up the length of his arm and the missing pinky finger. She hadn’t noticed it before, yet as he clutched the newspaper Dahyun noticed his pinky was just gone. 

Dahyun opened the door, the bell chiming softly overhead as she walked in. It shut behind her, and she watched as Mina looked at her in surprise, before her expression slowly glossed over, “You really couldn’t resist me for another twenty minutes, Princess?”

“I was bored,” Dahyun answered, and that was the truth. Really. Mina didn’t seem to buy it, picking up the box and walking around her a small chuckle leaking out as Dahyun clenched a fist and whined, “Really, I was just bored.”

“Whatever you say.” Mina disappeared into the back before emerging, now boxless, “I don’t get off for twenty minutes so-”

“You can go now.” Mr.Tamaka cut in, a smile on his face as he didn’t even bother to look up from his newspaper, “You already did all your tasks for your shift.”

“But-”

“I’m serious, go. Go be a teenager.” Go do something normal, with this normal girl. That part was unspoken, but Dahyun understood. Mina seemed to as well, sighing before tugging off the vest and grabbed a coat from behind the cash register, a black leather jacket. She slipped it on over her tight black tank top and pants, along with black boots. She looked, well, hot. It sent a slight warmth through her core that Dahyun quickly shoved deep, _deep_ , down.

Mina led them out, Dahyun quickly following. She clutched onto the thin strap of her purse, playing with the metal links as the two walked, “Where are we going?”

“Don’t you want to be surprised?” Mina asked back almost immediately, burrowing her hands into her pockets. “I thought you would maybe like that.”

That was actually a bit surprisingly thoughtful. Dahyun nodded and kept mum as they walked, it wasn’t long until they reached exactly what they were looking for. It looked unsuspecting from the outside, but Mina tugged her inside, and Dahyun’s mouth opened. It was a small arcade, nothing all too impressive but it was still shocking to see it in the section of the city they were in. Dahyun had always thought that nothing good ever came from this section, yet here was this small arcade so full of life. There was a group of young boys huddled around a machine in the back, all excitedly chatting as they took turns playing. There was a worker, Dahyun scarcely recognized her from her chemistry class, wiping down a machine to the side. It was nice, so of course, Mina had to ruin it, “See what happens when you’re a good girl and wait.”

Dahyun shot her a glare, “I was never impatient.”

“No, but you’re fun to tease,” Mina smirked, taking her hand out of her pocket a few quarters placed in her palm. “No which game do you want to try?”

Admittedly, Dahyun was never really a gamer. She preferred to play with the family grand piano in the basement or her neighbor’s dog when he was out in the yard. She took a glance around, recognizing one machine. The name was written in English, yet Dahyun still recognized the characters on the side of the machine. Her brother had this on DVD, he used to play it at night. Dahyun would lay on her stomach watching as he buttons mashed and swore. “That one?”

“Mortal Kombat?” Mina had a surprised tone to her voice, before nodding, “Didn’t take you as violent type, but let’s do this.”

Mina slid a few quarters into the slot, watching as the screen lit up. She picked a guy, some ice one that Dahyun had no idea who his name way, she picked Chun Li, mostly because Nikki Minaj once made a song about her. The game started and it quickly became apparent that Dahyun had no clue what she was doing, and Mina well did. Kicks, combos, other things that flashed too quickly for Dahyun to see. She was pressing whatever button she could fast, but it still was never enough as Mina quickly and easily overtook her and KOed her character. She watched as her girl faded in and out as the red words signaling Mina had won flashed on top. “That was it?”

“What do you mean that was it? I beat that ass.”

“Again.” A new determination in her voice, Dahyun adjusted her grip on the joystick ad readied her fingers on the buttons. Mina laughed and put new quarters in. The new tenacity did not last long as Dahyun lost almost as quickly as the first time. “H-how?”

“You’re challenging the master.” Mina confidently popped her jacket collar, “I’ve played every game in here for years.”

“Why don’t you just play from your house?”

“I don’t have a console.” Mina shrugged, “Now are you going to challenge me to another round, or do you want to see my other surprise.”

“Get me away from this devil game.” Dahyun pouted as Mina nodded, leading the pair out of the small arcade. Dahyun would definitely be returning without Mina so she could get some practice in. 

This walk was a bit longer, walking through a few small allies and down main streets. Eventually, they arrived at the bank of the Han river. There wasn’t a lot of population, just a few couples sitting on the banks and a few food vendors. Mina grabbed Dahyun’s hand, pulling her towards the vendors, sending electricity through Dahyun. Mina bought a small serving of Tteokbokki, holding the plate and two sets of chopsticks in one hand, Dahyun’s in the other. She pulled them to a spot just under a tree near the bank of the river. Mina held up her chopstick, pointing at where the sun was starting to dip behind buildings painting the sky red and orange, “Look.”

“You dragged me here to watch the sunset?” Dahyun asked, amusement almost tainting her voice. This for starters was not how she was expecting this day to go, sure she hoped for dinner or a movie, a part of her expected the day to end with her in the back of a cop car. It was kind of hard to imagine the girl watching the sunset so intensely was really as bad as everyone said she was. She seemed, harmless. 

“Yeah, I thought you would enjoy it.”

“It’s nice.” Dahyun commented, “Do you do this often?”

“No, just one day a year.” 

“Only one?”

“Yeah,” Dahyun turned to watch the frown start to form on Mina’s face, for a second she thought he lip quivered, but it was gone almost as soon as it appeared. Her expression hardened, “It’s just a sad day, but I don’t feel sad right now because you’re here. You made it better.”

“This isn’t what I expected.”

“I’m full of surprises.” Mina shrugged, “Plus you only ever get one first date.”

“First date?” Dahyun choked on a bite of her food, “Wait-”

“Did you really not think this wasn’t a date? If we were just hanging out we would’ve been doing something fun.”

“You mean illegal?”

“Same thing.”

Dahyun went quiet, turning back to the sun that was almost buried completely behind buildings. “So what now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like now that we are on a first date, are we dating now?”

“How about we go on one more and figure that out then?” Mina suggested, “I need to know more about you.”

“Like what?”

“What’s your favorite color?” 

“Red, You?”

“I like blue.” Mina laid fully on her back, looking up at the clouds in the sky, “Favorite food?”

The continued like that for nearly two hours, sharing useless facts, pointless anecdotes from their childhood, and it was nice. Dahyun had ended up laying down beside Mina, both their hair fanned out as they relayed stories. She learned that one-time Momo fell asleep after school and no one could reach her so they called the firefighters to break down the door. She told about how her and her brother one time had to chase their mom down the street because she hadn’t noticed they weren’t in the car. It felt nice, light, everything had been too heavy for a while now. It had gotten dark before Mina had walked her home, the pair still laughing as MIna recounted Sana’s Mr.Taxi dance. 

“I guess this ends our day one.” Mina smiled, placing her hands into her pockets. 

“It does.”

“Well, Goodnight, I guess.”

“Mina, you forgot something?”

“I did?”

“This.” Dahyun leaned in, pressing a soft kiss on Mina’s lips. It was bold, especially for her. Dahyun had never done anything like this in her life, but maybe that’s where she went wrong. She needed to be a bit more assertive. She pulled away, and Mina was a blushing mess. (Dahyun was the same.) “Goodnight.”

She walked into the house and watched as Mina walked down her driveway, and away from her house. She watched as Mina disappeared into the night, and suddenly she understood Sana a bit more. It was a bit scary to see Mina walk away, and have no clue what trouble the girl might get into. It came with the territory, she guessed. She turned on the lights, looking at the boxes still packed near the stairs. She grabbed a knife and opened them, maybe it was time to finally start getting comfortable.


	8. Chapter 8

  
Foreword  
  
1 one.   
  
2 two.   
  
3 three.   
  
4 four.   
  
5 five.   
  
6 six.   
  
7 seven.   
  
8 eight.   


## EIGHT.

* * *

Fuck. Fuck. _Fuck._ This was definitely _not_ how things were supposed to go down.

It was a simple delivery, the route Mina and Jackson always used. It wasn’t supposed to be complicated, in, out, payday and then that was it. Of fucking course, things couldn’t work out for once in Mina’s life. The deal was normal, dropping off a few baggies of who knew what at some randoms house in the southern end of their territory. He looked desperate for his fix, skinny and pale eyeing Mina’s bag from the second they arrived at their spot. The prices had risen, fifty for an eighth, he was only expecting forty. Long story short, he tried to forcefully grab Mina’s bag, hitting her in the face and was then beaten to a pulp by Jackson. 

“Grab your bag.” He told her, wiping the mix of his own and the junkie’s blood off his hands onto his pants. Mina was still sat on the sidelines watching, her own palms stinging and scraped up from where she tried to catch herself from falling. Her face dully throbbed where the junkie had punched her, but she ignored it, snatching up her black bag as the two of them briskly walked away from the scene. 

“You’re too small to be out here trying to do this stuff,” Jackson voiced once they were down the street, “I know you need cash, but stick with party calls and highschool drops. You could get hurt.”

Here’s the thing; she knew that already. Jackson was a lot like her, roped into all of this when he was young and naive. Maybe not exactly the same, but close enough that they understood each other. He was a few years older than her, newly eighteen so that meant newly inducted. The red ink still fresh in his flesh. He probably had bigger worries than Mina trying to sell to junkies, but he still came along every time she called. 

“I know.” Mina huffed, gripping onto her bag tighter, “But there aren’t a lot of business right now. And the highschool drops I had, Yoo took over.”

“I fucking hate Yoo,” Jackson spoke, reflecting Mina’s exact sentiment, “You could just fight her, take back the drops. She fights fair.”

As much as Mina may have despised Yoo Jeongyeon, she did respect her just a little bit. She always fought fair. The two had scrabbled quite a few times, keeping within the rules they had pertained. No knives, no guns, just fists. Someone who fought fair like that was quite rare nowadays. Mina shrugged, “She’s about to be inducted, I really don’t want to continue to have problems when she does.”

“Fair,” Jackson hummed, looking over his bleeding and still bruised knuckles, “You think Momo is working?”

“Why?”

“She always has a first aid kit in her bag, maybe she could spare a bandaid.”

The dinner was right down the street, and it was a Friday so that meant Momo definitely was working. Mina just nodded and they walked into the dinner, sitting in one of the booths. It had been almost two days since Momo and her fight, the longest they have ever fought before. Jackson put his hand on the table, and finally, in the dingy lights, she could see the true damage.

“What happened?” Apparently Momo could see the damage as well, appearing behind Mina and startling her. The older sister reached over Mina, grabbing Jackon’s hand and held it up, “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“No, I just was wondering if you had a bandaid.”

“Yeah, I do. One second.” Momo disappeared into the back, nearly knocking over another waitress as she rushed behind the doors. 

“Oh, so she’s mad, mad at you.” Jackson looked over to where Momo had disappeared, “She didn’t even look at you. What did you do this time Myoui?”

“Stopped her from selling her body in Chen’s ring of merry sluts,” Mina played with the fork set up on the table, “I think she’s embarrassed.”

“Don’t let her do that,” Jackson sounded serious, “If she gets caught up in that, she’ll either become an addict or die. Maybe both. Momo’s too good for that.” Jackson hated Chen, Mina knew that. And for good reason, he had a sister like Momo, and she had gone down that path. Jackson got the call she overdosed in a parking lot almost a year ago after being hooked. 

Momo came back, a small first aid kit in her hands opening it up on the table and grabbed an alcohol wipe, and dabbed at his knuckles. “Damn, how hard did you hit him?”

“Hard enough that he would never hit Myoui again.”

Mina was surprised Momo didn’t hurt her neck by how hard she whipped around to face Mina, grabbing her face and closely inspecting. “You got hurt?”

“Jackson is the one bleeding.”

“You know Sana is going to kill you if she finds out.”

“I know.”

“Actually Mina,” Jackson cut in, “Can you grab me a cup of water?”

“But-”

“Please.” She read him loud and clear, go before I make you go. She got up almost immediately, walking blindly to the back where they kept the small drink fountain to fill up a cup of water. As she filled the cup up, she looked back to see Momo and Jackson deep in some conversation. She took it as a hint to stay for a few more minutes, before walking back and placing the cup on the table. Jackson looked satisfied, Momo looked emotional. 

“All set?”

“Yeah,” Momo stood up, not so subtly wiping her face, “Do you want something to eat before you go?” 

(That meant, I’m sorry. Mina heard her loud and clear.)

“No, I think we should be getting home. It’s late.”

(Don’t worry about it, it’s all good.)

…

“Fuck, Nayeonie, don’t stop!” 

Mina felt her ears go read as soon as she entered their apartment to see Sana and Momo’s door closed with a sock over the handle. Nayeon must be over, and their apartment wasn’t big enough to escape whatever sinful sounds that leaked through the door. Sana and Momo shared the one bedroom in the place, two air mattresses on either side of the floor while Mina took the couch which wasn’t much better. Momo had originally tried to take the couch, but Mina denied saying she needed privacy more than her. 

Maybe tonight was a night she tried to couch surf at someone’s place.

Almost as soon as she entered the apartment she left, sending a text to Momo letting her know what was going down in her room. Momo hadn’t been as lucky and walked in on them one time, and to this day would not let it go. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Nayeon, she was nice enough, just the thought of her baby sister doing..that..it really didn’t sit right.

Her phone buzzed, assuming it was just text from Momo, Mina picked it back up and looked over it. 

_Dahyun is calling…._

Mina quickly swiped accept, placing the phone to her ear as she walked out of their complex, “Hello? Dahyun? Are you alright?”

.

“Can you come over?” Dahyun’s voice sounded shaky, like she was on the verge of tears, “I know it’s late, but I don’t know who else to call, and-”

“I’ll be right there.” Mina answered, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just don’t want to be alone.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

It only took her eight, before she was trying to figure out which window was Dahyun’s. She could’ve just knocked on the door, but a white SUV was parked in the driveway leading Mina to believe that maybe she shouldn’t try to do that. There, purple curtains. She recognized those. She climbed the white latticework scaling the side of the house, and carefully peered into the room. Dahyun was sitting on her bed, and Mina let out a sigh of relief knowing she wasn’t accidentally knocking on someone random’s window.

“You could have rung the doorbell,” Dahyun told her as she helped her climb into the room, closing the window behind Mina. 

“There was a car, I didn’t know if your parents would be okay with me just ringing the bell at this time of night.” Mina shrugged and took off her shoes, laying them underneath the windowsill before jumping onto Dahyun’s bed, patting the space beside her, “What’s up?”

She could tell Dahyun was hesitant, before climbing in onto the bed laying down so she could face Mina. She didn’t have the main lamp on, just some strung up Christmas lights seemingly taped around her windowsill, but Mina could still make out her features. Lips turned down in a frown, eyes puffy. Dahyun took a shaky breath, “My parents were fighting, and my dad left.”

“Oh-” Mina was never good at this kind of stuff, this was Sana’s field, “Is he coming back?”

“I don’t know. They’ve been fighting ever since Yeonwoo passed, maybe he finally had enough.”

“Yeonwoo?”

“My brother.” Mina felt her heartbreak as she saw Dahyun’s eyes fill up shiny with tears, “He killed himself a few months before we moved here.”

Oh. That hit closer than Mina was expecting, punching her in the gut and left her gasping for air. Dahyun closed her eyes, “I didn’t know he was thinking about that. He seemed happy, you know? But I found him, and he was just dead one morning. He left a note, but I still feel so guilty. Was he crying out for help? Did I not listen?”

Mina didn’t answer for a minute, opting to reach up and brush a stray piece of hair out of Dahyun’s eyes. “I get it.”

“Huh?”

“My mom killed herself. I was eight, back then. Momo’s mom died during childbirth, so our dad remarried Sana’s mom. Well, my mom was a side piece, and I was a mistake. Sana’s mom found out about what was going on, so he left. My mom was a wreck, always crying or screaming at me. I remember it so clearly, she-” Mina hated how her voice broke, hated how exposed it made her feel to someone she barely knew. Yet she still kept talking, “She looked at me and asked if I wanted to die with her, I was so young. I didn’t get it. I said no. She went out that night and came home screaming and hit me with the water kettle. Then cried about doing that, saying she was sorry. The next morning she was hanging in her closet.”

“Mina-”

“You have those thoughts, what if I did more. What if I was better. What if did this, what if I did that.” Mina turned to the small glow in the dark stickers on Dahyun’s ceiling, counting them in her head. Twenty-seven. “I get it.”

Slowly but surely, she heard sniffles start to come from Dahyun. Before she knew it the girl was sobbing, hiding her face into Mina’s shoulder. Mina knew that cry, she had heard it before. Grief. Dahyun sure was strange, the more Mina found out about her, the more similar they were. It was easy to open up to Dahyun, no gangs, no violence, just Dahyun. She slowly put a hand on Dahyun’s back, turning so the girl could get closer to her. Mina could’ve made a dumb joke, trying to relieve some of the weird atmosphere MIna had no clue on how to maneuver. But she kept mum, letting Dahyun get it out of her system. 

When was the last time Mina talked about her mom? She had forgotten. Burying it deep down, never mentioning it to Momo or Sana, even if the latter tried to drag it out of her sometimes. Yet it came so naturally with Dahyun. That was scary. Kim Dahyun, what type of black magic do you possess?


	9. Chapter 9

Dahyun knew she probably looked like a creep right now, staring into the band room window watching as Mina slowly ate her slice of pizza, legs propped up on the windowsill as she looked outside. She just looked pretty, and Dahyun had always liked pretty things. 

She opened the door, smiling over at Mina when the girl looked over, sauce on the corner of her mouth. Dahyun walked in, shutting the door behind her before taking her usual seat at the piano, digging her packed lunch from inside of her bag. She set out the small bento box on top of the piano, before looking out the window as well. “Thank you, for last night.”

She saw Mina smile as the girl tried to hide it by taking a bite of her pizza, “Yeah, no worries.”

“He didn’t come back this morning.”

“Are you okay with that?”

“I’m not too sure.”

Mina nodded, taking the last bite of her slice before turning to Dahyun. Mina was surprisingly good at reading her, Dahyun had come to appreciate that. She could tell when Dahyun didn’t want to talk about something and knew how to change the topic in a way that felt natural. Emotional intelligence, something Dahyun herself lacked a lot. Mina had her usual red tie, but today it wasn’t hanging so loosely but pulled properly up to her buttoned collar much like Dahyun’s own appearance. “You know for someone who talked a lot of smack on our date, you have never shown off your amazing piano skills.”

“Are you trying to insinuate that I actually don’t know how to play the piano?” Dahyun raised an eyebrow, scowling as Mina smirked and shrugged. She sighed and turned around in her chair, letting her fingers rest and press on the keys. It was slightly out of tune, and the keys didn’t flow well under her fingers, but she would make it work. 

The light tinkering of rain on the window helped her mark a tempo before she started playing, a soft sweet melody that she couldn’t exactly remember the name of, but it just felt right. She closed her eyes, letting it wander and flow into her hands as she tapped away. It was nice. She opened them to see Mina staring back at her, a small smile on the girl’s face as she watched. Mina moved so she could sit next to her, tapping experimentally on the piano. 

“Okay, maybe you do have a bit of skill.”

“Just a bit.” Dahyun giggled, feeling her breath hitch as Mina leaned in so close she could feel her breath tickle her lips. She moved closer, connecting their lips. It made her head spin, made her feel dizzy in the best possible way, it was electrifying-

_Rrrrinnggg_

Of fucking course, the school bell had to cock block. Dahyun moved away, giggling as Mina tried to follow, before opening her eyes in annoyance. “We need to go to class.”

“Or we could skip and make out in here?”

“We have a quiz.”

“But we could make out…”

“No. C’mon you big baby, let’s go.”

“I am _not_ a baby.”

…

Her shift was supposed to be normal. 

Mina had a box full of shipment on the floor, digging through occasionally to load the shelves with various chips and snacks. Mr.Tanaka was sweeping near the register, his old Japanese music playing from his CD player in the front of the store as he sang softly along, “So who was that nice young lady that came by the other day?”

“Dahyun?” Mina shrugged, putting another bag on the shelf, “Just a girl.”

“Didn’t seem like just a girl, you two seemed very friendly.”

“She’s a nice person.”

“Mina if you want to say you’re dating her, you know I’m not going to judge you right?” He smiled, stopping his motions, “Remember when your sister starting dating that nice girl?”

“Nice is kind of pushing it.”

“I told her she was still the same person before she told me that. The same applies to you.”

Mina sighed, “We’re not together, yet. But I think I like her, a lot.”

She looked over at him, seeing his smile, kind and gentle. It was dark out by now, and the artificial lighting in the store was cold and hard, but somehow he lit up the room in this mellow glow. Holding the broom in one hand, red dragon tattoo wrapped around his arm now slightly sagging with age. He nodded, “I’m happy for you-”

_Bang Bang Bang_

Mina knew what those were immediately; gunshots. She hit the floor, covering her head with her hands as the glass in the front shattered, raining down and crashing through the air. Carefully she looked up to see just the tail end of a grey car screech down the street. Then there was silence. A quick one over of herself helped comfort her, she was okay. Slowly, she stood up, trying to balance herself on shaky legs and a heartbeat that pounded in her ears. 

Then she saw him.

Mr.Tanaka laid out on the floor, blood pooling from his abdomen onto the floor. Her feet moved before she even realized, throwing herself down next to him trying to press on the wound. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go, why was this happening? She dug her phone out of her pocket, barely being able to call 911 with how bad her fingers were shaking, “Hello? Hello?!”

She held the phone to her ear, trying to relay what happened, tripping and stuttering over her words. _He wasn’t breathing, why wasn’t he breathing. There’s so much blood._ The ambulance came quickly, but they knew what Mina knew, he was already gone. 

It happened so fast, no build-up, no warning, just three shots and that was it. But that’s how life went sometimes, or more so how life ended.

..

“I failed my chem test again.” Nayeon sighed, flipping onto her stomach watching as Sana sat at the foot of her bed painting her toenails. “My dad is going to kill me.”

“Maybe you should’ve been studying instead of trying to get in my pants.” Sana hummed, looking up at her with a playful glare. She placed the brush back into the bottle and set it aside, crawling over to Nayeon, leaning down to place a gentle kiss on her lips, “Then again, you have an A+ in chemistry with me.”

“That was gross.”

“You love it.”

“I do,” Nayeon closed her eyes, puckering her lips again. She heard Sana chuckle, leaning in to place another kiss-

The door swung open violently, causing them both to jump and whip towards the entrance. Truth be told, Sana expected it to be Momo, she had done it before when Nayeon was between her legs because her phone had died and she needed her charger. She expected Momo to rush in, and then out as fast as possible, but Momo was at work. Mina was standing in the doorway, a dazed look on her face, “Where’s Momo.”

“Work,” Sana answered cautiously, getting up from the bed.

“Work, right,” Mina mumbled, eyes glazed over as Sana cupped a hand to her chin and tried to make her look at her. Something was wrong, Sana could tell almost immediately. Mina was swaying like she wasn’t going to be able to keep herself up for long, she just had this blank look on her face that didn’t sit right with Sana. 

“Mina, look at me.” She waited, counting the seconds until Mina’s eyes finally locked with Sana’s, “What’s going on.”

“I need Momo, where is she?”

Sana shot a look at Nayeon who looked just as concerned as Sana felt, sitting up fully and looking over at the two trying to figure out what to do. “Sana, her shirt.” Sana let her gaze flutter down to Mina’s shirt and her stomach dropped, her white t-shirt stained red and sticking to her stomach, the same red on her hands and in dark patches on her knees. 

“Mina what did you do?” Sana didn’t mean for it to sound as accusatory as it came out, but she couldn’t help the thought of Mina having done something unforgivable from flashing through her mind. Mina just shook her head, “Whose blood is that? Yours?”

“Mr.Tanaka.” Another blow. Mr.Tanaka, Sana was never as close with him and his wife as Mina was, but she still knew them quite well. Hell, she had even slept over there a few times when things got bad. Now wasn’t the time for that, especially not as Mina’s lip started to quiver as she looked down at her hands in horror. 

“Do I need to call the police?”

“I already talked to them. I need Momo,” Mina sounded gutted, and Sana couldn’t blame her. She could only watch as Mina started to wipe her hands on her shirt, trying to get the red off of them. Nayeon, now having made her way over to the sisters, grabbed her hand. 

“Let’s get you into the shower.” 

Sana let Nayeon lead Mina away, she heard the showerhead start and the door close. Her head was racing, scrambled up as she tried to figure out what to do. She sent a quick text to Momo, telling the girl she needed to be home now and made her way to the bathroom, opening the door to Mina and Nayeon sitting both fully clothed under the running water. 

Everything Sana feared was starting to take place.


	10. Chapter 10

“You look tired,” Jihyo stated, pouting over at Sana who sat slumped over the lunch table. Dahyun agreed, Sana looked exhausted. A mess of blonde hair spread out over her shoulders as she pressed her forehead to the cold of the tabletop.

She lifted her head up, looking over at Jihyo, “I feel tired.”

“Rough night?”

“Yeah.” 

“Do you need to talk about it?” That was something Dahyun really appreciated about Jihyo, she was very empathetic. She leaned forwards, placing her head in her palm as she looked Sana over, scrutinizing every detail she possibly could. 

“A family friend passed away last night.” Sana sighed, reaching over to grab a fry off of Tzuyu’s plate, “Mina wasn’t taking it to well.”

That piqued Dahyun’s interest, now listening very intensely into the conversation, picking at her salad trying to make it seem like her mind was far away. That made a bit more sense, Mina had texted her that morning telling her not to wait up for her at lunch and just to eat lunch with her friends. She just assumed Mina had to retake a test, or she was sick. Putting down her fork, she sent out a quick text. 

DAHYUN

Are you okay?

[11:35AM]

“Oh, is that why Momo isn’t here?” Jihyo motioned to the empty chair next to Sana where Momo would sometimes occupy. The table did feel different without Momo’s loud laughter or very intense conversations about different food combinations. “Are those two at home?”

“No,” There was a slight bitterness in her voice, “Momo tried to convince her to stay home but she came anyways saying she was fine. Mina was most definitely not fine, and I know she doesn’t talk about that type of stuff with me, but she wouldn’t even talk to Momo and-” Sana took a deep breath, Dahyun could tell she was starting to get upset. Nayeon rubbed small circles on her back, “I just want better for her. I don’t get why she hates me so much. Ji, you should’ve seen her last night, she was in shock. Yet she was still asking for Momo.”

Jihyo nodded, glancing over to the other side of the cafeteria. Mina was sat with her group, looking just as tired as Sana. Momo was also sat over there, glued to Mina’s side seemingly uncomfortable with the setup. Mina was eating, saying something to Momo motioning over to the direction of their table. That’s when Tzuyu spoke up, “Isn’t that Jeongyeon?”

“Huh?” It was indeed Jeongyeon. Jeongyeon with her sleeved rolled up showing off a freshly-inked green tiger spanning down the side of her arm. 

“She was initiated?”

“Wait- you don’t think-”

Tzuyu had explained initiations briefly to Dahyun, she understood the gist of it. In order to be initiated, you were given a task that you had to complete. It sounds simple, but it wasn’t. Sometimes it was a gauntlet fight or firing shots in enemy territory. All really risky stuff that could get people hurt. She watched as her table started seemingly putting pieces together, as Jeongyeon walked out of the cafeteria. Apparently Mina was on the same train of thought, bolting out of her chair and following her into the building. Dahyun had a bad feeling about this. 

Sana got up first, catching up with Momo who was trailing quickly behind Mina. The rest followed, leaving everything on the table as they tried to get into the building. They entered just in time to see Mina pull on Jeongyeon’s arm before punching her in the face.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” Mina’s voice was low and cold, piercing through the hallway like a knife. It wasn’t a question so much as a statement, almost daring Jeongyeon to say she was wrong. Dahyun would’ve been afraid at this moment, seeing the girl act so- un-mina like, but the older was shaking like a leaf, gripping onto Jeongyeon’s collar as her knuckles turned white. “It was you that murdered him.”

She could see Sana in the corner of her eye, watching the scene while worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. But she didn’t jump in, not yet at least. Sana was tense, gripping onto Nayeon’s hand as her life depended on it. 

Then Jeongyeon stammered, opening and closing her mouth looking completely overwhelmed, and Sana’s whole expression changed. Everyone’s expression changed. Dahyun watched as the entire hallway fell silent, looking around to see Jihyo at her side, face drained of any color. She heard Tzuyu whisper so quietly she almost didn’t hear, “The initiation.” 

They only watched as Mina laid a hit on the side of Jeongyeon’s face, then another, and another. Watched as Mina grabbed her, and slammed her onto the ground, both hands on her collar. Watched as Jeongyeon wheezed, trying to scratch, bite, do something to get Mina off of her. Dahyun looked over at Sana and Momo, both of their jaws set looking at the scene with blank stares. They weren’t going to stop her. 

“Mina.” Dahyun tried, taking a step out of the group putting a hand on Mina’s shoulder as the girl raised it up once more and Jeongyeon braced herself. She slid her hand up Mina’s arm, to her clenched fist, unraveling her fingers and interlocking it with her own. “Mina, that’s enough.”

“She killed him!” Mina sounded hysterical, refusing to look at her, but not trying to pull away. 

Dahyun ran her fingers over her knuckles, “I know sweetheart. But you can’t do this. Let’s go.”

Surprisingly, Mina stood up, albeit shaky and hesitant she stood up. Dahyun tugged on her, gently coaxing her away and Mina let herself be led. They walked out of the school, ignoring questioning looks that their friends shot their way, and just stood next to the building. Mina looked lost on what to do, trying to unclench her shaking fist and still hold onto Dahyun with the one that was still squeezing the younger. To be honest, Dahyun had no idea what to do. Mina’s jaw was clenched like she was trying to hold herself back from screaming at the top of her lungs. Dahyun just slowly pulled her in, wrapping her arms around the shaking girl rubbing soft circles on her back. “She did it. I know she did.”

“Mmm.” Dahyun hummed, “How about we go over my house? My mom isn’t home.”

“But-”

“You need a break.”

…

Dahyun didn’t like seeing Mina this quiet, it was a bit unnerving. She was quiet the entire walk home, and even now as she was sat on Dahyun’s couch she was still silent. Dahyun glanced over at her from the kitchen, placing the marshmallows into the two cups of hot chocolate she was preparing. When satisfied with the drink, she took them both in her hands and walked them over to the girl sitting on the couch. “Did you pick something to watch yet?”

“No.”

“Okay.” Dahyun picked up the remote as she tried to make herself comfortable, letting her body lean onto Mina. The other didn’t seem to mind, just letting Dahyun cuddle into her side by lifting her arm and then played with her hair. Dahyun switched on some random documentary, it was about ducks and cute by had intentions to put Mina to sleep. She looked exhausted, maybe the boring documentary would do some good. 

“It was Mr.Tanaka.” Mina spoke, “He was shot.”

“And you were there?”

“Yeah.”

“Jesus Christ.”

Mina just hummed, moving into a laying position letting Dahyun lay on top of her. She ran her fingers through the hair, watching the ducks on screen waddle around, “We stayed with him for a while after we left my dad’s. He didn’t serve what happened to him.”

“He was a good man.”

“I just keep thinking, what if I was the target? What if I was supposed to be dead, and he was supposed to be here.”

“I-” Dahyun took a moment to choose her words carefully, “I think, whatever happens, happens. It wasn’t meant to be you.”

“My dad’s a real piece of shit, have I ever told you that? He liked me, cause I seemed to just be like him, getting into all this shit. He fucking hated Momo, she was a little tomboy growing up and he just fucking despised her. He would be the shit out of all of us, and we’d just go to the corner store and Mr.Tanaka would just give us ice cream and let us sit in there when it was cold. When Sana came out-” She felt Mina shake her head, “Sana never came out, she was _outed_. I thought my dad was going to kill her, Dahyun, I really thought she was going to die that night. We grabbed what we could and ran, and Mr.Tanaka just let us stay with him.”

“Mina-”

“I’m so angry, I don’t know what to do. What do I do Dahyun, what do I do when I know I’ll never see him again in my whole life.”

“I don’t know.” That was the truth, the empty room upstairs was a testament to that. It cried and screamed out to her, still causing that gaping hole in her heart. The empty room ripped her parent’s marriage apart, thrust her into this strange new world that she only thought existed in dramas. 

Loss never got better, you just learned to deal with it a little more. 

She could hear Mina start to sniffle, throwing a hand over her eyes. Her chest shook as she started to sob, causing Dahyun to prop herself up on her elbows looking at her. She reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of Mina’s face, pulling Mina’s hand down, and wiped her tears. She let Mina cry for what seemed like hours, letting the girl release her pent up frustrations. Eventually, the girl started to calm down, and looked over at the TV, “The show is over.”

“That’s okay.”

“I really wanted to see the ducks.”

“We can just rewatch it, we have all the time in the world.”

(They didn’t.)


End file.
